Little Red White & Blues
“Between 1954 and 58, noted author and music historian Samuel Charters spent time recording the sounds of the city for a Music of New Orleans: Volume 1 LP released by Folkways Records in 1959. In October of 1956, he made the first live recordings of Mardi Gras Indians. His recording of Red White & Blue Got The Golden Band was done by members of a number of different tribes including the 2nd Ward Hunters, Pocohantus (sic), 3rd Ward Terrors and White Eagles. Little Red White & Blues was an old-time Indian gang still referred to in many Indian song narratives today, but it is interesting to note that the singers have no clear understanding of what the name meant. . . .
Mama Roux a song with an Indian reference appeared in a 1968 single by Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) and later on his first Atco album, called Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya. The line, She was the Queen of the Little Red White & Blue, clearly alludes to the aforementioned Little Red White and Blue Tribe.”
—Thomas L Morgan, from the Mardi Gras Indian Influence on the Music of New Orleans, a nice article on the net, copyrighted 2002.
Mama Roux
“Mama Roux, she was the Queen
Of the Little Red, White and Blue.
Said ooh, why did you spy boy,
Prepare yourself to die boy,
Medicine man got heap strong power,
You know better than to mess with me.
(theres more but Im tired of transcribing)”
—Dr. John, from Mama Roux, 1968. Sadly, this is the quality of much of the anonymous information on the net.
purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power
“Rex [was the krewe] known as the king of carnival. Rex was conceived primarily to celebrate the arrival of the grand duke of Russia, Alexis Alexandrovich Romanov. The dukes mistress and lover at the time, an American actress named Lydia Thompson, sang a song in a burlesque New York show Bluebeard entitled If Ever I Cease To Love You. Coincidentally, this was the dukes favorite song, so all the bands in the Rex parade were asked to play it. This song became, and still remains today, the official song of Mardi Gras. The krewe of Rex also chose the official colors of Mardi Gras in 1872 based on symbolic meaning: purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power.”
—found at worldweb.com. So it must be true!
gonna set your flag on fire
“My flagboy and your flagboy,
Sittin by the fire,
My flagboy told your flagboy,
I’m gonna set your flag on fire. . . .
See that guy all dressed in green
Iko! Iko! an de’
Hes not a man,
Hes a lovin machine.”
—The Dixie Cups, from Iko, Iko, written and recorded in May 1965.
big brown eyes
“I don’t know what you’ve been told
But I love them project hoes.
Dooky breasts, big old thighs,
Contact lens, and big brown eyes.”
The Little Rascals Brass Band, from Knock with Me, Rock with Me, recorded in 2001.
Call me diamond, call me gold
“Call me diamond, call me gold
I have been bought, been sold. . . .
Oh come on, come on, dig my mine.
Oh come on, come on, kiss me,
Kiss me all along my spine.”
—The Incredible String Band, from Call Me Diamond, composed and sung by Mike Heron.
Red yellow green, purple or blue
“Every year for Carnival Time,
We make a new suit.
Red yellow green, purple or blue,
We make a new suit.
We got feathers on our crowns
That stand about eight feet high,
In every color of the rainbow,
Were beautiful, I aint lying!
Every year for Carnival Time,
We make a new suit.
We make a new suit.”
—from New Suit by The Wild Magnolias, first recorded in 1970.
Achromatic colors.
Black, gray, and white.
—Color Systems in Art and Science, edited by Klaus Stromer, translated from the German by Randy Cassada, 1999.
Brilliance.
The luminance of a color. Dependent on the surface characteristics of the colored object.
—Color Systems in Art and Science, edited by Klaus Stromer, translated from the German by Randy Cassada, 1999.
Chromatic colors.
All the colors that remain after excluding the achromatic colors (black, gray, and white).
—Color Systems in Art and Science, edited by Klaus Stromer, translated from the German by Randy Cassada, 1999.